“Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” 2 Timothy 2:22
How do you run away from something in your mind? If you are on a cruise and the captain commands you to flee to the lifeboats, you know what to do and where to run. If you are on a hike and your guide commands you to run away from a rattlesnake on the path in front of you, your feet intuitively know what to do. But how do you flee from a thought, or a desire, something like lust? Two ways.
The first way to flee sexual lust and sexual temptation is with prevention. Draw up a list from experience of the people, places and things that excite your sexual lust. I’m talking about the immodest waitresses at that restaurant downtown. The porn websites whose names I won’t mention. Those dodgy apps on your smartphone. Flee youthful lusts by fleeing these people, places and things before you even come into contact with them. Shun then, avoid them. Prevent yourself from being around them. Use a porn blocker like Covenant Eyes if needed.
The second way to flee lustful thoughts is by changing the subject. Lust takes place in your mind, so your mind must be the part of your body that you exercise to run away from it. Do this through interruption, by thinking of something else as soon as lustful thoughts enter your brain. Just as you would turn and run the other way upon seeing a rattlesnake on your path, turn your mind 180 degrees and think of something opposite to lust. This is what Paul tells you to do with his but. Flee youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
By the way, Timothy wasn’t a youth with raging hormones. He was around 40 years old when Paul penned this letter to him. Even men in middle age are to flee youthful lusts. They can’t run as fast, but they can still run.
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